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How U.S. Antidumping Policy Undermines U.S. Competitiveness: A Pro-Reform Perspective

If the Obama administration and Congress are truly concerned about U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and increasing export opportunities, then antidumping policy must be reformed. Imports of raw materials, intermediate goods and capital equipment — products consumed by U.S. producers — account for the majority of U.S. import value. Meanwhile, those kinds of manufacturing inputs are subject to 4 out of every 5 antidumping measures imposed. The case is clear that current U.S. antidumping policy undermines U.S. manufacturing competitiveness at home and abroad, and reform is imperative.

In light of the Obama administration’s efforts to facilitate export growth and help improve U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, three panels of experts will discuss various features of U.S. antidumping law that undermine those objectives and offer proposals for reform.

2:30pm—3:00pm

Registration

3:00pm—3:15pm

Opening Remarks: Antidumping and U.S. Competitiveness: Something Has Got to Give

Panel 1: An Ounce of Prevention: Limiting the Scope for Collateral Damage in the Early Stages of an Antidumping Investigation

Lax standards for initiating antidumping investigations conspire with an asymmetric injury analysis that ignores the consequences of duties on consuming industries and the economy at large to produce externalized costs. Panelists will discuss the imperative of adding rigor to case initiation standards; granting legal standing to firms in consuming industries; requiring the results of an analysis of the economic costs and benefits of any prospective antidumping measures to be considered; and more.

Panelists:Erik Autor, Vice President, International Trade Counsel, National Retail FederationDr. J. Michael Finger, Trade Economist and Author, Former Lead Economist and Chief of the World Bank’s Trade Policy Research GroupGary Horlick, Esq., Law Offices of Gary N. Horlick, Former International Trade Counsel, U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and Former Head of Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

Import Administration at the Commerce Department employs calculation procedures and methods that unequivocally inflate dumping margins, hence the rates of duty imposed. Some of those procedures serve no legitimate analytical purpose. Others can be conducted in manners that are less likely to produce skewed results. Panelists will discuss some of the more egregious methodological quirks and offer some commonsense solutions.

Moderator: Gary Horlick, Esq., Law Offices of Gary N. Horlick, Former International Trade Counsel, U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and Former Head of Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

Recognizing that antidumping measures saddle other domestic interests with higher costs, stymie commerce by virtue of the uncertainty created about final duty liability, and make it more difficult for downstream U.S. producers to compete at home and abroad, this panel of experts will discuss various reforms that could reduce some of the purely punitive aspects of the current system.